Seemingly Irrelevant Encounters
by MarauderChick09
Summary: "Yes, there was no way for James Potter to know that Lily Evans was the love of his life. So he just smirked, as she rolled her eyes and turned back around in her seat. A seemingly irrelevant encounter to both of them, but one that would soon lead to something so much more." A glimpse of James and Lily in first year, before they knew they were meant to be.


"Stop it."

James tried to make himself appear as innocent as possible, looking pointedly away from the fuming redhead and fiddling with his quill in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, as if his hands had not been otherwise occupied a few moments before. Despite his best efforts, he could feel her glare burning holes through the side of his head, and once it became clear that she wasn't going to look away until she got some sort of response, he summoned all his courage and finally made eye contact.

Once again, his breath caught when he looked at her. Somehow, over the course of the past few weeks, he had managed to convince himself that he didn't think Lily Evans was pretty. It was just that her looks were fairly intense, and after only two months of school with her, he hadn't been able to get quite used to her hair, which was darker than most gingers he knew, or her brilliant green eyes, which flashed dangerously whenever she was angry with him. Like right now.

James did his best to look confident, but he was afraid his voice came out sounding semi-strangled. "Pardon?"

"Don't play coy with me, Potter," she said, and he had absolutely no idea what that meant. "I know that was you."

"That what was me?" There, that was better. Now he looked and sounded the part. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I don't think he does, love." To his left, Sirius piped up, and for a moment James was left feeling rather empty as she shifted her ferocious gaze to his mate. The feeling was gone as quickly as it came, however, as she quickly resumed eyeing him mistrustfully.

"You've been pulling on my hair." she said, referring to the two low ponytails she was so partial to and which James had, indeed, been tugging at for the past 45 minutes as Professor Binns droned on in the front of the room.

James was very careful to arrange his features so that he looked as confused as he would've been if he wasn't guilty as sin. "No, I haven't."

"Then who has?" It was true that he was sitting right behind her, and he wasn't about to throw Sirius under the bus, so he merely shrugged, unable to come up with a suitable scapegoat.

"Grow up, Potter," she snapped, obviously unimpressed by his dispassionate response. Their use of each other's surnames had become somewhat of a habit; it had begun just after the sorting, when he stole her journal in the common room, and they'd referred to each other as 'Potter' and 'Evans' ever since. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

And there it was. James had never asked himself this question before. Some might say he was afraid of the answer, but James just thought it was a rather boring question. He liked messing with Lily, just like he liked collecting Chocolate Frog Cards and he liked playing Exploding Snap. There was no deeper meaning than, nothing profound about the way he pulled her hair, or read her journal, or wouldn't leave her alone in the Common Room when she was trying to study. Its not that leaving her alone would be particularly difficult. When-and if, he ever got tired of her, he was sure it would be easy enough to stop doing all these things.

He was wrong. One thing Lily Evans was not- and never would be-to him was unimportant.

But there was no way for him to know this yet. There was no way for him to know that one day, these seemingly irrelevant encounters would become what he lived for. No way for him to know that his actions now were setting him up for a crapload of work later on trying to redeem himself. No way for him to know that one day, she would stop wearing her hair in pigtails, and it would be sudden and unexpected and thrilling, the way he fell in love with her. No way for him to know that one day he would push her too far, and only then would he realize how much she meant to him. No way for him to know that one day, he would kiss her, and no way for him to know that one day, 'Lily Evans' would become 'Lily Potter.'

Yes, there was no way for James Potter to know that Lily Evans was the love of his life. So he just smirked, as she rolled her eyes and turned back around in her seat. Two seconds later, he pulled on her pigtail again, and it began all over again. A seemingly irrelevant encounter to both of them, but one that would soon lead to something so much more.


End file.
